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In my life, in your life, the quintessential miracle exists. Just because we have an inability to see it, experience it, feel it, does not mean it isn’t there. And having said that—having said that, you are quite capable of feeling that miracle in your life every single day.

What does it take? There is a subtlety. There is a subtlety. We always assume when something is good, it’s the big flashing lights; it’s the big driving sound. But actually, if you want to feel what is within you, you are going to have to be very, very quiet. Do you know how to be quiet? Have you ever been quiet?

See, for most of us, "Yeah, I didn’t speak for five minutes; I was quiet." Something else was speaking! "De-de-de-de, de-de-de-de, de-de-de-de, de-de-de-de, de-de-de-de, de-deh. Did you, we, what-what about this? Well, I have.... Have you been quiet; have you been quiet? Are you really quiet? I—are you really quiet? Are you quiet; are you quiet? Ah.... Do you feel quiet? I’ve been—you’re not speaking, so you must be quiet...."

We look at this world, we look at ourselves, we look at our lives, and the first thing we do is we compare: "How come that person is like that? How come I am not like that person?" Oh, it—oh, by the way, it goes both ways!

Oh yeah! There are people who are looking at another person for want of being rich—or they’re looking at a very “spiritual” person....

Because a lot of people come to me sometimes, and they say, “Oh, I wish I was like you.” And I’m like, “Why? Why do you want to be like me? You have no clue who I am! You have no clue what goes on in my head! Why do you want to be like me?" But, that's it: “Oh! You can talk about peace. I want to be like you."

That’s exactly the point—peace is nothing to talk about; peace is something that needs to be felt. Do you feel peace? Have you ever been quiet enough to feel peace? What if I was to tell you that, peace does not come from somewhere else; it comes from within you. And right now it is within you. With all your problems, it is within you.

First thing you must be dedicated to, is the joy that dances in your heart. The first thing you need to be dedicated to—is to be certain, not in doubt. To favor clarity in your life, rather than confusion. To be dedicated to knowledge, instead of ignorance. To be dedicated to being fulfilled, rather than empty.

And if you were dedicated to these, surely they will reward you by bringing you the most exquisite gift of peace, of joy, of understanding.

- Prem Rawat

It was a Greek philosopher who said once, “You are never happy if you get what you don’t want.” Tricky words. If you get what you don’t want, you’re not happy. And even if you get what you do want, you still won’t be happy because you won’t be able to keep it. That’s the problem.

So many families, finally they get everything going and the husband dies. “Oh, terrible, what’s going to happen now?” Children grow up too fast; they start bossing you around. You’ve been bossing them around? Wait! You will get a taste of your own medicine. They will boss you around. They will start telling you things.

You had the child because you wanted a child—because you thought all these beautiful, lovely thoughts about having a child, “How sweet the child will be.” And now you are going to be on your bed without a second of sleep, thinking, “Where are they? Why are they not home? It’s already past midnight. What are they doing?” You can’t keep it! Can’t keep it!

You finally got your promotion; you finally got your promotion that you had been waiting for, waiting for, waiting for. And after you have got your promotion, you realize that there are twenty other people wanting the same chair. The one before, there were only five wanting that chair. This one, twenty more....

And if you go to the next one, it’ll be forty more, and if you go to the next one it’ll be a hundred more. And now it’s a matter of, you make one mistake—one mistake—and your chair is gone; promotion is gone. Because you can’t keep it! You can’t keep it; you can’t keep it; you can’t keep it.

Because there is a change afoot, and you don’t like changes. You don’t want changes; you don’t want anything to change. You, even though you want your son who is three years old to grow up, you don’t! You want that child to just stay that way. And you want your wife who’s so pretty to stay that way. And you want your husband who is young to stay just that way.

But everything is changing, changing, changing, changing, changing—and so are you. But you don’t know. Why don’t you know? Because you don’t know yourself. You know your friends; you know your neighbors; you know other people, but you don’t know you.

That’s what Socrates says, “Know thyself.” Knowledge of the self! “All knowledges are good; knowledge of the self is the supreme.” When you know yourself, now you know who you are.

– Prem Rawat

But what is a conflict? You see, conflict does not begin on the outside; conflict begins inside. The war begins in the minds of human beings, and then you see the outside expression.

And what is the outside expression? Innocent people die, destruction, lives and families ruined, prosperity gone. All the things that we don’t want become the outside expression of the conflict that is inside the human beings.

First thing, first thing…we have to learn how to respect. Respect who? First, you have to learn how to respect yourself. Now, most people think “respect” is good manners: “Oh, hello, how are you, thank you very much,” smile, this and that....

That’s just manners, good manners. There’s nothing wrong with good manners, but respect is different. It’s more than just manners. And that respect has to begin with you. When you respect yourself, then you can respect other fellow human beings.

Right now, people are ready to kill each other because of differences of opinion. “You believe in this; I believe in this. I don’t like you; I’m going to kill you.” Well, what is the point of your belief if it is destroying other human beings? What is the point of having something that promotes conflict, when just as easily you can have the peace which resides inside of you?

You know, is darkness truly far away from light or light far away from darkness? No! It’s like one coin: one side is darkness; the other side is light. Which one are we picking?

-Prem Rawat

Fernando Trezza:

Can world leaders really make a difference to peace in the world? And how do you think your message can impact them?

Prem Rawat:

Well, I must, first of all, apologize to a lot of the leaders, because I have met a lot of leaders and they’re beautiful people, and they want peace in their lives too. It’s not like that they become leaders and they become different.

But I also know that peace will come from every single human being, that global leaders can help by putting an end to the conflicts, by not perpetuating the conflicts, not perpetuating the wars, but helping people understand prosperity and giving people the dignity that they deserve.

But peace is within human beings. They need to discover it. They need to explore it. They need to feel it. And if we keep relying on world leaders to bring peace, I’m afraid that is not going to be anytime soon.

But if we rely on ourselves as the citizens of the earth—that every single human being has the right to feel peace, “It’s a fundamental right to feel peace”—that if we take that approach, then there can be peace on this earth.

- Prem Rawat

What makes you human? Human. And what makes you human is your humanity! And if you don’t know what that humanity is, then you will never understand what it is about, what is life, what is this time, what does being here mean.

Because there is another possibility. And the other possibility is that we make the choice to capture the day, that we make the choice to be fulfilled, that we capture the choice, we make the choice to be in that heaven here, now!

Instead of being victimized, we begin to understand our own strength—our own strength, each one of us. That it is not about other people; that it’s about me. That I need to live in this world, and I need to experience! Not just think, experience! Experience.

– Prem Rawat

The very things that break down the structure of a family, a simple thing called “not listening”—that is the culprit in the whole world, in my opinion. The government doesn’t listen to the people; the people don’t listen to the government. Wife doesn’t listen to the husband; husband doesn’t listen to the wife. Children don’t listen to the parents; parents don’t listen to the children.

No listening. Why? Because there’s so much noise already going on, of everything that’s wrong. It is the Tom Thumb syndrome. We have become so small, and everything has become so big—that you no longer understand.

You don’t understand who you are; you don’t understand why you’re here; you don’t understand what your potential is; you don’t understand what the breath means; you don’t understand what your choices are. You have a choice. You can choose.

– Prem Rawat